Anytime we venture into a new place, our brain's built-in GPS immediately kicks in and begins to form a spatial map of our surroundings. Over days and even weeks, this map may be solidified as a memory that we can recall ...
Aug 24, 2022
0
127
T cells, biology textbooks teach us, are the soldiers of the immune system, constantly on the ready to respond to a variety of threats, from viruses to tumors. However, without rest and maintenance T cells can die and leave ...
May 27, 2022
0
1014
The immune system is an extraordinarily complex network made up of components that simultaneously launch attacks and mount defenses.
Three epidemic or pandemic coronaviruses—SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, & SARS-CoV-2—have spilled over from animals to cause deadly illness in humans in the past 20 years. Virus researchers are determined to discover a means to ...
Aug 6, 2021
4
598
When we experience a new event, our brain records a memory of not only what happened, but also the context, including the time and location of the event. A new study from MIT neuroscientists sheds light on how the timing ...
Jan 11, 2021
0
142
When the brain forms a memory of a new experience, neurons called engram cells encode the details of the memory and are later reactivated whenever we recall it. A new MIT study reveals that this process is controlled by large-scale ...
Oct 5, 2020
1
1231
Most memories fade in a matter of days or weeks, while some persist for months, years, or even for life. What allows certain experiences to leave such a long-lasting imprint in our neural circuits? This is an age-old question ...
Feb 10, 2020
0
204
Rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep is a fascinating period when most of our dreams are made. Now, in a study of mice, a team of Japanese and U.S. researchers show that it may also be a time when the brain actively forgets. ...
Sep 19, 2019
0
372
Memory T cells earn their name by embodying the memory of the immune system - they help the body remember what infections or vaccines someone has been exposed to. But to become memory T cells, the cells go backwards in time, ...
Dec 13, 2017
1
551
When we visit a friend or go to the beach, our brain stores a short-term memory of the experience in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. Those memories are later "consolidated"—that is, transferred to another part ...
Apr 6, 2017
1
377
